Live coverage: H-2A rocket delivers on 30th flight

Working with a reduced staff due to coronavirus-related restrictions, European Space Agency flight controllers monitored the BepiColombo spacecraft during a flyby of Earth on Friday, a maneuver that used our planet’s gravity to steer the mission on a course toward Mercury.

SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket rolled out of its hangar and up the ramp to launch pad 39A Sunday in preparation for liftoff on a two-day trek ferrying more than 6,400 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station.

NASA’s first space-worthy Orion capsule blasted off atop a Delta 4-Heavy booster rocket for a two-orbit, four-hour shakedown cruise in orbit. Liftoff occurred at 7:05 a.m. EST (1205 GMT), with splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 11:29 a.m. EST (1629 GMT).